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Estate of Keith Morris/Redferns

Estate of Keith Morris/RedfernsT. Rex will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame this year after being eligible for the honor since 1994. Soul singer Gloria Jones, the late Marc Bolan girlfriend and mother of his son, Rolan, tells Billboard that she thinks the T. Rex frontman’s reaction to the news would be, “It’s about time!”

Jones, who recorded the original version of “Tainted Love” in 1964 and later contributed backing vocals to several T. Rex albums, adds with a laugh that she was just joking, and says Bolan “would have been very, very honored, and I’m sure he would have been brought to tears. I’m sure he’s very happy, and he’s very honored.”

Bolan was 29 when he was killed in a September 1977 car accident in a vehicle driven by Jones. Gloria admits to Billboard that she had a dream about Marc a few days before the induction announcement.

“He was so worried,” she explains. “He was going back and forth, and I said, ‘Well, Marc, please don’t worry.’ And the next day I sent an email to Rolan…and he called me and said, ‘No, Mom, Dad wasn’t worried — he was nervous.'”

Jones is planning to attend the ceremony with Rolan and former T. Rex drummer Bill Legend, the only surviving member of the lineup that recorded most of the band’s early-’70s albums.

Gloria tells Billboard that the Rock Hall induction will help introduce more people to T. Rex and Marc’s music.

“There’s a brand-new world out there, and a lot of people get a little confused with Marc Bolan and T. Rex,” she maintains. “So now I think this is going to complete that circle that they understand T. Rex is Marc Bolan.”

The 2020 Rock Hall ceremony takes place May 2 in Cleveland.

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